Gaming Card for Dell Studio Desktop Help???

I want to put a decent GPU in my Dell Studio Desktop (core 2 duo, 2.8 ghz I think, 4 gb ram). Any recommendations? I only play occasionally and I only play real time strategy games like Dawn of War. I'm looking for something that will play decent frame rates without spending a ton of $$$ and without melting my desktop. Thanks.

 

Sorry, but this belongs to the DesktopReview forum over here.

 

A moderator will direct you to DesktopReview for this but I would recommend a nVidia GTX 260 216 Core or a GTS 460 Ti or an ATI Radeon HD 5770 or HD 5830.

As true as where this topic should go, I do find DesktopReview not as thoroughly active as NotebookReview and we do know the desktop subject matter as well. However, that is the rules and that is how it goes.

 

I agree with you there. The community here is much more active and there are very knowledgeable people here who do not go on desktopreview.

 

A ~$100-120 (after rebate, on TigerDirect) GTX460 is probably the best bang-for-buck desktop card you can get at the moment. Expect high settings at 1080p without AA.

 

ATI 5670, it requires no power from the psu and should be under $100. It will work with your computer no problems.

All of the other cards mentioned will require you to hook up at least a 6-pin cable from your psu (which it probably does not have so you will have to use an adapter) and are not guranteed to work (although a 5770 most likely will). Now if you want to run Metro 2033 at 1920x1080 then take a chance but since you stated you don't game often and don't want to spend too much I wouldn't bother...dawn of war will work fine

 

Depends on your PSU really.
If its at least a 550w you can either go for a GTX460/465 or an HD5850/5870, which are cheap now.

Even GTX560Ti is ok and the leap compared to old fermis is huge, plus it shouldnt cost that much.

 

I was wondering why this thread was here when I was reading it on DTR

 

I think Phistachio's roar scared him off to DesktopReview.